Living For Ourselves
by LanieSullivan
Summary: A pre-series answer to the challenge given by Whitefeather1965 to have one character seduce another. Complete.


Disclaimer: "Scarecrow and Mrs. King" is copyrighted to Warner Brothers and Shoot the Moon Productions. The plot is mine, but not the characters. This story is meant for enjoyment purposes only. No infringement is intended.

Author's note: Response to a challenge to have one character seduce another. It doesn't completely live up to the challenge simply because it said, "Make us blush," however, since I do enough of that with many of my other stories, I'm leaving details up to the imagination. Although, the idea of these two characters makes me blush anyway, so maybe that works too.

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"What!" Lee growled as he yanked open his front door, annoyed by the intrusion on his wallowing in self-pity.

"Hello to you, too," Francine responded dryly. "And welcome back."

"Whatever it is, Francine, I'm not in the mood," he grumbled as he folded his arms across his chest.

"So I heard through the office grapevine. That's why I brought this." She held up a bottle of his favorite scotch. "I thought maybe you could use it."

He uncrossed his arms, gave her a shrug and a slight smile as he opened the door fully to allow her admittance to his home. "Yeah."

"Welcome home, by the way," Francine said breezily as she walked to his bar and began to pour them both drinks. As she spotted an already empty bottle on the bar. "OR maybe you don't need any more." She held up the empty one.

He glowered at her. "Oh, give me a break, Francine, I didn't have time to restock the bar before I was on a plane to Italy and as you already know, I just got back last night and between having to turn my report in to Billy and fighting jetlag, I just haven't had time to go to the liquor store."

She set the bottle down. "You sure that's all it is?"

"Yes," he asserted. "It had just enough for a couple of drinks when I got home." He then turned the tables on her. "From what _**I**_ hear through the grapevine, you could use a stiff drink or two yourself." He remarked.

 _That's not all I could use a stiff one of..._ Francine mused, but then shook off that thought as she turned back to the bar. "To say the least." She resumed pouring, then reversed position again and handed him a drink while taking a sip of her own.

"Do you wanna' talk about it?"

She shook her head. "I didn't come here to talk about me. I came here for you. Do _you_ wanna' talk about it?"

"What's to talk about?" Lee ran a hand through his hair and flung himself onto the couch. "I made an ass of myself over a girl who never wanted me and married someone else instead...end of story. But you...you were on the home stretch...you had the guy..."

"No," she shook her head as she sat beside him. "If I had the guy, he wouldn't have bailed. Like I said though, I didn't come here for that. I came here..." _Why had she come here?_ she questioned herself. She had tried to convince herself that it was just to comfort a friend, but the truth was, she was in need of some comfort herself. The problem was that she didn't want to talk about it; didn't want to open those wounds again. She shook her head and switched gears, kicking her heels off as she laid a hand on his shoulder as if to console him. "So, what really happened, Lee? You never let yourself get that involved on a case before...personally, I mean. "

He took a swig of his drink and laid his head on the back of the couch for a moment before turning and meeting her blue eyes that were filled with concern and...something else that he couldn't quite put his finger on through the liquor-induced haze. "You're right. "You're right. I was stupid. I just...I lost my head over Eva. The thing is, I don't even know why. I was just...I just kept thinking about this damned job and how we never get to really live, you know?" He let out a deep sigh.

"Believe me, I know," she concurred. That had been exactly her thought in accepting Jonathan's marriage proposal. Sure, he may not have been the world's greatest catch, but he was sweet and funny and he loved her...or she thought he had. She swallowed hard as she tried to tamp down that thought and focus on the man in front of her and her mission.

He slammed his drink down onto the coffee table. "I mean, sure we travel and go to parties and wherever the job takes us, but we don't really live. We live for the job, we live for saving the world, we live for other people, but we never really live for ourselves."

She set her drink down, reached to squeeze his hand and replied softly, "I know."

Lee squeezed her hand back, grateful for the reassuring gesture and that someone understood. He smiled warmly at her. "But enough about me. From what I heard, you could use an ear too; someone to talk to."

She shook her head. "I don't wanna' talk about it." She ran her free hand down the side of his face in a long, slow caress. "In fact, I don't wanna' talk at all."

Before Lee could fully process her words and their meaning, her mouth met his in a firm kiss, her tongue teasing his lips. He pulled her closer with his free hand the other still clasped with hers as the kiss became more heated before alarm bells began sounding in his head and he abruptly pulled back. Breathing hard, he rose to his feet and questioned, "Francine, what the hell are we doing here?"

"Living for ourselves," she answered in a seductive tone as rose to meet him. She slowly undid the top two buttons on her blouse. "Didn't you say that was what you wanted?"

"Francine..." Lee said in a warning tone. "I-"

"Don't." She placed a finger to his lips to silence him. "We're both single, we both need to live, we've both been..." She blinked back the tears that had started to form again.

"...hurt." he finished for her. "But-"

"So, living for ourselves. Is that really such a bad thing?" Her sparkling blue eyes were filled with desire and another emotion that Lee couldn't quite put his finger on.

He shook his head as he pulled her roughly to him, lifted her off her feet and half-dragged her in the direction of his bedroom. "No. It's about damn time we lived for ourselves."


End file.
